After graduating in the top 7% of her high school class, Bergen Community College student Naana Owusu- Abboah was accepted into the NJ Stars program, an initiative created by the State of New Jersey that provides New Jersey’s highest achieving students with free tuition at their home county college.
“I chose Bergen Community College because it was my best option financially for my major,” she said.
Owusu-Abboah was accepted into Bergen’s nursing program where she is studying nursing to pursue her career goal to become a pediatric doctor. With a 4.0 GPA, Owusu-Abboah has been awarded two scholarships including the South Pole Foundation Scholarship and the Successful Start Scholarship.
Owusu-Abboah works on campus in the Office of Student Life through federal work study. She has been able to bring students together through “community-based activities” and help uplift the “morale and experience of college students.” She was able to assist in the preparation for the 2023 Commencement. She said, “It was an honor that I would gladly participate in again.”
“I have made meaningful connections here that push me further and continue to support me through every new challenge,” she said.
Crediting Bergen faculty and her peers for their mental and emotional support, she feels that they played a direct role in helping her make it into the nursing program. “I think the helpful professors and my supportive peers have played a massive role in my success at Bergen,” she said.
Owusu-Abboah also credits her family. “My family is the only reason I was ever able to get this far,” she said. “They have supported me through my journey and have been there whenever I struggled and worried.”
Offering advice to fellow Bergen students, she said, “Determination, diligence, and consistency are my personal keys to success.” She expects to graduate in 2025.
Based in Paramus, Bergen Community College (www.bergen.edu), a public two-year coeducational college, enrolls more than 13,000 students at locations in Paramus, the Philip Ciarco Jr. Learning Center in Hackensack and Bergen Community College at the Meadowlands in Lyndhurst. The College offers associate degree, certificate and continuing education programs in a variety of fields. More students graduate from Bergen than any other community college in the state.
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